Transferring website hosting to another company

Overview

If you need to move your domain hosting to another hosting provider, there are several steps you must take to ensure that your data has been correctly backed up and your DNS is adjusted. The following information describes the necessary steps you must take to transfer website hosting.

This article explains how to transfer hosting, not the registration. If you also want to transfer your registration away from DreamHost, view the following article:

Uploading your data to the new hosting company

Now that everything is backed up, you must log into your new hosting company's panel and upload all of your site's content. Check with your new host for instructions on how to upload your data within their system.

Pointing your DNS to the new hosting company

Option #1 — If your domain is registered at DreamHost and you want ALL records hosted at the new company

If your domain is registered at DreamHost, all you need to do is update your nameservers to point them to your new hosting provider. Updating your nameservers points ALL of your DNS records to the new hosting company. This means all email, website, and custom DNS records will be hosted at the new company. View the following article for instructions on how to change your nameservers:

If this is your only domain on your account, you do NOT need to maintain a hosting plan. A hosting plan is only necessary if you wish to host a domain and its content on DreamHost servers. If this is your only domain, make sure to cancel your hosting plan. Your DNS will continue to point to your new hosting company.

DNS propagation time

Each record created requires its own time for the DNS to resolve. You can check the progress of the record at a site such as this:

Option #2 — If your domain is registered at DreamHost and you only want the website hosted at the new company while keeping email hosted at DreamHost

If you want your site to point away from DreamHost while keeping your email hosted at DreamHost, you must create custom DNS records. Contact your new host to obtain the correct IP addresses to point to. Then view the following article for instructions on how to create A records for your site.